Local News

Springfield and Washington County are currently served by two separate fire departments. Each department operates on its own budget, with its own sources of income. However, the departments are primarily made up of the same firefighters doing the work when a fire arises.

The show must go on, and trash collectors with Rumpke will be busy today and even Saturday covering ground lost due to Thursday's ice and snow. A spokesperson with the local Rumpke office said the company will be collecting trash today, as well as Saturday, Dec. 18, to make up for the lost day of service to customers yesterday. Any questions can be directed to Rumpke at the company's Springfield office at (859) 336-3710.

Washington County first started accepting recyclable products in 2000, working out of a donated semi trailer parked at All-Weather Insulation Company. In the first year, the county collected 30,000 pounds of recyclables. From those humble beginnings 10 years ago, today the program has left its semi trailer behind and has moved into a 30,000-square foot space in an old tobacco warehouse on West Industry Drive, and as Washington County Solid Waste Coordinator George Ann Palmer said, they are “busting at the seams.”

An incident on a Washington County school bus last Wednesday is being investigated by school officials.
A call to The Springfield Sun by a parent last week informed the newspaper of an alleged incident aboard a bus involving students and what some thought to be a knife.

If you look at various sources of media these days, it’s easier all the time to find celebrities, athletes, and other high-profile individuals who are charged with drinking and driving. Some of these well-known people openly state they don’t want to be role models. But what happens when the offender is looked at as a role model by our children?

• The decimation of bison herds in late 1800’s led the population to drop from 30 million to fewer than 1,000 at the turn of the 20th Century.
• By 1960 the National Geographic Society estimated that 20,000 bison were alive in the United States.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent Census of Agriculture in 2007 estimated that 220,000 U.S. bison live on public and private land.
• Bison need no artificial shelter such as barns. They prefer to be outside all year despite the weather.

Springfield is home to five new celebrities but the stars haven’t exactly warmed up to the place.
These celebrities don’t have expansive houses, and you won’t catch them eating at local restaurants. They keep it simple by grazing on grass, food pellets, yeast sac and minerals at Alltech.

As the Washington County Fiscal Court met Monday morning, there was no new information to process regarding the fire department, but the magistrates serving on the committee said they see things going well.

Magistrate Greg Simms reported to the court that the fire department committee was to meet again on Tuesday evening. Magistrate Terry Tingle indicated that the last meeting was positive.